Let’s Stand Together

And be inclusive instead of being exclusive.

Some times we feel like the little Dutch boy with his finger in a leaking dike (no pun intended), but remember the vast majority of LG stand behind us.

Transgender People, “Gay Conversion,” and “Lesbian Extinction”: What the Data Show
By Julia Serano
December 29, 2020

A few days ago (on Christmas, in fact), The Telegraph ran a piece with the provocative title: “Lesbians facing ‘extinction’ as transgenderism becomes pervasive, campaigners warn.” The premise — which has been increasingly touted by anti-trans groups over the last few years — is that nowadays, young kids who are “really lesbian” are instead coming out as transgender and transitioning to male, thereby decimating the lesbian population.

This assertion bears resemblance to another claim favored by these same groups, namely, that when children and teens are allowed to socially transition, it’s actually a form of “gay conversion therapy.” According to this argument, sans transition these kids would have grown up to be gay men and lesbian women, but now they will instead turn out to be “straight” (i.e., heterosexual trans people).

Before addressing the veracity of these claims, it is useful to ask why anti-trans groups (many of whom are also anti-gay/lesbian) are making them. It turns out that conservative Christian activists have explicitly promoted a separate the T from the LGB tactic as part of a “divide and conquer” approach to undermining LGBTQ+ rights more generally. With the exception of rare splinter groups, this strategy has had little impact within LGBTQ+ communities, who largely see through it. However, these appeals can cause confusion or consternation among the queer-unaware straight majority, who may be misled into thinking that being “pro-trans” is tantamount to being “anti-gay” — such sentiments are precisely what these anti-trans groups are striving to elicit.

Their voices are amplified by the conservative press, conservative religious organizations, and conservative press.

You might remember some of these names; Zucker, Michael Bailey, and Bailey they all promoted their pet theory that trans people are just frustrated gay men. That we are really gay men who can’t accept being gay totally ignoring the fact that many trans women are sexually attracted to women and ignoring trans men completely.

In that same 2017 article, Gates stated that, “Reduced social stigma and accompanying advancements in legal equality are contributing to marked changes in the demographic composition of the visible LGBT community. Most notably, it is growing, and the growth is most pronounced among young people, women, and racial and ethnic minorities” (emphasis mine). So wow, the number of queer women has been steadily increasing (not decreasing) over the last decade — that sounds like the exact opposite of a “lesbian extinction,” doesn’t it?

The reduction in social stigma and the passage of non-discrimination laws was one of the reasons I came out in 1999 (little did I know that Trump twenty years later would set us back decades) and I think that many other LGBTQ+ people came out because they thought it safe to do so.

So a few Trans Radical Exclusionary Feminist like J.K. Rowling have come out of the woodwork with the support of groups like Federalist Society, the British newspaper Telegraph, and Fox News have pushed their agenda on us.

In Britain the conservatives won a victory in court banning puberty blockers for trans children but pro-trans groups are rallying to appeal the court decision.

When we were passing trans laws we had many, many lesbians and gays stand up for us. Yes, many “LG” organizations threw us under the bus but those organizations were run by the male equivalent of TERFs. When we were trying to pass the GI/GE non-discrimination nation a LG organization gave us funding to organize to pass the legislation.

I like to say that when we face violence and discrimination the perpetrators are not discriminating between gays, lesbians, trans people, or queer folk they see us all as “GAY.” They are just attacking a person who is different from them. Be it sexual orientation, gender identity, national origins, or race, they just see a person who doesn’t look like or act like them.

How do we bring about change?

Speak up!

Not just trans people but also lesbians and gays, need to speak up, let us take a lesson of our union friends… “United we Stand, Divided we Fall”